LOS ANGELES, CA.- The Craft & Folk Art Museum presents Material as Metaphor, a group exhibition of thirty-one large-scale, abstract works by eleven contemporary West Coast artists who experiment with the intersections of fiber art and sculpture. Using materials such as vinyl, industrial felt, wire, cotton canvas, and nylon stockings, each presented work reveals the artist’s intimacy and intentionality with their medium and process. The exhibition title is taken from a 1982 essay by Bauhaus artist and teacher Anni Albers, who said “What I am trying to get across is that material is a means of communication,” urging artists to learn the language of their chosen materials. The exhibition features site-specific installations by Lloyd Hamrol and Lisa Soto, as well as wall works and standalone sculptures by Joel Allen, Miyoshi Barosh, Phyllis Green, Mary Little, Christy Matson, Victoria May, Senga Nengudi, Kay Whitney, and May Wilson. Material as Metaphor is on view from May 28 through September 4, 2017.
Relying on processes that include cutting, stitching, draping, weaving, and knotting, each work’s materiality explores ideas such as connectivity, labor, human imperfection, or memory. “This exhibition celebrates the extended boundaries of the art world where classifications and aesthetics are stretched through an emphasis on materials, techniques, and processes that crisscross our definitions of craft and contemporary art, freeing makers to experiment with various materials and methods,” says CAFAM executive director Suzanne Isken.
Bay Area artist Victoria May contrasts the softness of fake fur, blankets, and hand-sewn silk rope with steel pins, rubber, and hardware. With Studies in Convulsion (2014), she reshapes and stitches a partial inner tube found on the road to embody the cycle of production, from raw material to refinement and back to decay. Los Angeles-based Kay Whitney creates large sculptures such as Shyhook (2015-16) from industrial felt and plywood, emphasizing the slim boundary between both materials’ natural origins and their eventual artificiality. May Wilson studied sculpture but eventually moved on to textile as an alternative material. Her materials include felt, vinyl, nylon strapping, fire hoses, concrete, and other specialized industrial textiles. Wilson’s two- and three-legged knotted structures recall human qualities that incite our empathy and emotional identification.
Weaver Christy Matson works with natural materials like paper, cotton, linen, wool, and natural dye, preferring to use leftovers from textile mills. Influenced by color-field painting, geometric abstraction, and the quality of light in Southern California, Matson uses the jacquard loom-known as the first iteration of the computer-to create organic patterns that confound our understanding of digital technology. Furniture maker Mary Little’s recent work involves constructing abstract wall pieces that utilize the inherent structure of cotton artist canvas to create three-dimensional pattern, form, and shadow inspired by the beautiful and varied landscape of the north of Ireland, where she was born and raised.
Sculptor Phyllis Green is inspired by her travels to India and the study of ancient writings that describe how humans can become enlightened. The Mundaka Upanishad advises that the first step toward enlightenment is for individuals to approach a learned teacher with wood (fuel) on their heads. As a solution, she has constructed performative art objects from wood, leather, and cloth that assist her with the task of presenting wood to her guru. Senga Nengudi began working with pantyhose because it was affordable, portable, and she liked its association with the elasticity of the human body. Nengudi says that her use of pantyhose alludes to female anatomy, maternity, change, human vulnerability, and the movement of the body through space.
Lisa C. Soto uses copper, fishing line, bullet casing and, sound to create intersecting forms that reflect interconnectivity between people and events. Soto’s site-specific installation The shortest distance between two points... (2016-2017) uses bullet casing that are suspended in space via an intersecting web of string whose trajectories recall time standing still, questioning whether the inevitable can be changed. Lloyd Hamrol constructs large and small-scale sculptures made of industrial felt, what he considers the simplest and most ordinary material to work with. His site-specific piece Cascade is made from large, circular units of burnt umber-colored industrial felt that rely on gravity and architecture to maintain their structure and integrity.
Miyoshi Barosh relies on traditional craft techniques to create the large-scale wall work Rainbow of Tears. Made from discarded afghans found in thrift shops throughout Los Angeles, her materials symbolize unrequited love and devotion, selfless labor, and useless attempts to cheer others up despite the reality of a harsh world. Joel Allen’s Hooked on Svelte is a series of hanging sculptures utilizing fiber and metalwork that can be recombined to form site-specific installations. The work is about the repetitive, physical labor of the artist’s process.
